Author: adviser

On Saturday, February 27, the state qualifiers for speech events were held at California State University, Long Beach. Freshman Coco Sanabria and senior Destin Bigsby both participated in the qualifier, but they did not make it to the state competition.
“Neither Coco nor I qualified for state, unfortunately,” said Bigsby. “But Coco is only a freshman and she seems to be on track for a state qualification in the future.”
Both Sanabria and Bigsby participated in the impromptu event, which requires speakers to create a four-to-seven minute speech on the spot in two minutes and then present it in front of the judges. In addition to these challenges, speakers in this year’s impromptu category had to compete against 60+ other competitors. In order to qualify for the state competition, speakers must place in the top five in their event.
Bigsby also participated in the original prose and poetry event. In this event, meant to engage a speaker’s creative side, speakers write a piece of prose or poetry in advance of the competition and present it to the judges. This piece must be at least five or six minutes long and memorized.
On Saturday, March 4, the state qualifiers for debate events were held at Schurr High School. This event is a simulation of the US legislative process in the Senate and the House. Students must prepare for debate on numerous topics and are assessed on their research, argumentation, and delivery skills. Freshman William Terlinden participated and senior Crispin Jay Salapare competed, but unfortunately did not place.
Novice Championships will be held in May.

Pennies for Patients

Every single year for 15 years, Poly’s Student Commission has held a big spring project called Pennies for Patients. In this project, boxes are given to all classrooms for donations with all the funds going toward the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. Posters with kids diagnosed with cancer are also displayed in order for the students to put a face to the disease. Although the classroom with the most funds gets a pizza party, the big picture is that the funds are going toward people who have been affected by leukemia. For different students and faculty of Long Beach Poly, it means a lot more to them because they personally know people who have been diagnosed with cancer. With a goal of raising $3,500 dollars, the school is sure to make a big contribution towards the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.
“Personally, I feel that this is a great way to help others who are [suffering from] leukemia,” said sophomore Katherine Khiev.
As the head of the Pennies for Patients project, Khiev has very high hopes for the funds that will be donated this year.

St. Baldricks

Freshman Max Magilnick has made a commitment to raise awareness and funds for childhood cancer, shaving his head every year on March 12 to raise money for an organization called St. Baldrick’s Foundation. All around the world, every single day, this organization shaves people’s hair in an attempt to raise money and awareness to shave childhood cancer off the face of the Earth.
“When I was in 5th grade, my sister got cancer, and I didn’t know what to do. So I tried to find anything that I could and I found St. Baldrick’s,” said Magilnick.
Ever since the age of 10, Magilnick has been passionately finding a way to help his sister and doing whatever he can to eliminate childhood cancer. With the support of family, friends, and even more people from Poly, the impact could even be far greater than that.

From Friday, March 4 to Sunday, March 6, several Poly students participated in the Model United Nations (MUN) conference held annually at UC Berkeley.
MUN places students in real-life simulations of the United Nations; participants can choose from several committees based on UN agencies and discuss issues in line with each agency’s focus. Students are given the roles of ambassadors for specific countries and must gather research, write position papers on their countries’ policies, and create resolutions in their committees.
“My partner Emma Larson and I were in a committee based on migrant workers’ rights and the implications of sex tourism, so not only were we able to learn about the world and real-life issues, [but] we were [also] able to do so in a way that helped us work together with others for a common goal,” said junior club president Stefana LoTempio.
Hosting almost two thousand students annually, Berkeley MUN is one of the largest conferences on the West Coast and in the nation. 17 Poly students made their way to the Bay Area early Friday morning to catch the opening ceremony and first committee session later that night. This group, along with the almost 1800 students overall, had been preparing for the conference since the beginning of the year.
“We found out our committees in February, and we wrote our position papers and did research this month,” said senior Daniel Sagrera.
Participants divided their time up between committee sessions on their two topics and unscheduled periods for leisure and exploration. One of the benefits of being at
an away conference is having the opportunity to explore a new area and meet people from all over the world. Students were not only from the United States, but also from El Salvador, Canada, and Singapore.
“The away conferences allow us to meet other kids. A lot of the away conferences are much better run and the kids are more prepared and the debate runs much better,” said junior Emma Larson.
Larson and LoTempio earned research awards for their position papers. Though not everyone won awards at the conference, all those involved had an enjoyable and fruitful experience.
For those interested, MUN is held every Thursday in Room 415 (Gillogly). The next conference will be at UC Irvine in May.

Monday, February 29 to Friday, March 4 was Wellness Week here at Poly High School. It was a week of healthy decisions and activities for the students and teachers.
There was a list of activities and workshops to do throughout the week in order to get students exercising and eating healthier. The workshops were Monday through Thursday after school from 3:00 to 5:00 P.M. in the teacher’s lounge.
Monday was a workshop about positive relationships with yourself and others. Yoga was on Tuesday, then Healthy Eating on Wednesday, and natural remedies for stress and anxiety on Thursday.
“I was always surrounded by people who had health problems and I’ve always felt bad, at school there was a lot of great opportunities to make a change in my community and I’m glad I’m here to help,” said senior Karla Figueroa.
During lunch, there were rallies with healthy exercises and contests. Monday through Thursday, students and teachers did workouts on stage, while other days, they held dance lip sync battles and an obstacle course challenge.
Friday was Health Fair Friday at lunch where booths and tables were set out. A DJ came out and activities were set up all around the quad and on stage.
“I thought it was cool because my friend was involved in the activity on stage and I liked how the school set everything up,” said junior Marawin Chheang.
There were multiple booths that were all based on healthy living such as a healthy teen environment, having a healthy body, and many more that you could go to for tips about how to maintain a healthy life.
Poly also had many local health organizations from Long Beach come and set up booths that caught lots of attention from students.

In between the Poly Playhouse and the soccer field is an opportunity that many students have not taken advantage of. As a matter of fact, many students do not even know of it.
This opportunity is the auto shop class taught by Mr. McColm. When inquiring sophomore Brandon Taylor about this auto shop class he said, “I didn’t even know we had an auto shop here.”
Around 2000, Mr. McColm started teaching the class and has had a lot of success in the class. He teaches all students, even individuals with special needs.
Many of the kids do not seem to have much interest in the class. However, the very few who take the class to the next level have a lot of potential in their future. In fact, one of his dyslexic students ended up being a successful engineer for Yamaha.
“The reason I came into teaching is to teach these kids how to do it,” says Mr. McColm. “This is a good opportunity. They can go to a community college, then training, then go to work at a dealership.”
For many of the students here at Long Beach Poly, they do not see the potential in this auto shop class. Most of them do not even know that auto shop exists.
If the students did know, there could possibly be a chance that they would take interest in the class and make something out of it. For many of these kids, turning a wrench can be turning their life around.

From February 19-21, 65 students from Daniel Adler’s AP Government and AP Econ classes and Patrick Gillogly’s AP US History class went to Las Vegas, Nevada to work for a political campaign and observe how the caucus system worked.
The group arrived in Las Vegas and immediately started canvassing for the campaign they chose to work for; choosing between Sanders, Clinton, or Rubio. Then on Friday night, students attended either the Bernie Sanders or the Hillary Clinton rally.
“It was so cool to go to the Bernie Sanders’s rally and hear him speak about issues I really care about. The energy of the crowd was incredible because everyone was excited to be there,” said senior Milan Perry.
At the Clinton rally, students got to hear America Ferrera, Eva Longoria, Chelsea Clinton, Bill Clinton, and Hillary Clinton speak about plans to improve America.
The group of Jackrabbits went to four different caucuses on Saturday morning and everyone had a different and interesting experience. Hillary Clinton showed up at one of the sites our students attended. The Rubio supporters observed write in candidate Rocky De La Fuente campaigning during the caucus, and two different groups of Bernie supporters observed how easy it is to manipulate the Caucus system.
The Clinton supporters had the most unforgettable experience because they actually ran a caucus because the necessary officials were absent.
“We were thrust into a situation with no leaders present so we ended up organizing most of the precincts at our caucus site. I actually read the official letters from the DNC to over 200 people and many other students assumed many positions otherwise unoccupied,” said senior Timothy White.
After the caucuses were over, students either attended Clinton’s victory rally or Sanders’s short concession speech.
“After all of the chaos at the caucus and getting yelled at by many Nevadan residents, it made it so much more amazing to meet and converse with Hillary. I’ve been a Hillary supporter for most of my life and meeting her was one of the best moments of my life,” said senior Jasmine Roberts.

The annual Senior and Parent Night was held in the Big Gym on Tuesday, February 2.
The seniors were advised to bring their parents and pick up their senior packets.
“I’m sad that it’s my last year and I have to leave my friends,” said senior Ana Suarez.
At the meeting, each staff member explained responsibilities for the seniors. The seniors had to read their packets, which focused on graduation, prom, Grad Night, and other senior activities.
“It’s funny that we have rules and codes for the senior activities but I understand that we need them for certain individuals,” explained senior Efrain Cortez.
There were different caps and gowns to show what each student is going to receive. The gold one is for 4.0 students, while all other graduates don the traditional green gown. Additionally, students were informed of the several medallions and sashes for taking honors and AP courses.
Outside of the Big Gym and the student store, booths were open for students and parents to purchase graduation items. One booth sold graduation flowers and beaded necklaces, while the student store was used for the caps, gowns, tassels, and Grad Night tickets.
For seniors, it is a big step and a lot to take in because of the fact there are only a few months left in the school year. Reality sets in because this is the last year before college and adulthood.
“I just wanted to enjoy the days and weeks that I have with my classmates because we’re becoming adults soon,” said senior Yulissa Cabrera.

Poly’s JROTC had their first army competition at North High School in Torrance on Saturday, January 30, which was chaperoned by Senior Army Instructors (SAIs) Sergeant Major Wright and Master Sergeant Denmark. Color Guard, Dark Knights, and Unarmed were the teams that competed at Paramount High School.
The first performance was Color Guard, followed by Unarmed Inspection.
“It has been good seeing everyone work hard for the competition and to see all of the progress come from it,” said senior Joshua Young.
There were three separate sections where each team performed: Inspection, Expedition, and Regulation. The results of each participating team were not given until all of the participating teams had performed.
When all of the teams finished, everyone sat in the gym to hear the results. Every school got their own set of awards and trophies but Poly got the most awards. Both Color Guard and their JV team won first and second place trophies. The Dark Knights Foreman also won first place that afternoon.
“Knowing that we won first place is such a big accomplishment all those days of hard work paid off,” said freshman Carina Ayala.
The Poly ROTC program has been very successful in past years, accumulating many trophies throughout its long history.
“I was very proud of all my cadet and to come home with ten trophies,” said Master Sergeant Denmark.

The student-run club Paws for a Cause held an event for disabled dogs in the small gym on Wednesday, January 20. The event was a race in which disabled dogs, many of whom were in wheelchair-like devices due to injuries of the legs, would compete with each other.
“They like to run, so they would race across the small gym,” said club leader and junior Jasmine Gomez. “We helped them set up and then we just kind of took care of the dogs. If they weren’t racing we would have to distract them, to keep them from going crazy.”
Currently there are 70 million stray cats and dogs in the United States, and three to four million animals are euthanized every year by shelters in the United States. Los Angeles in particular has a big problem with stray animals.
In the South Central area, thousands of dogs roam the streets. If you see a stray a stray animal, contact your local animal control agency, humane society, or SPCA.
The aim of the event was to expose people to the disabled dogs in order to increase the likelihood of their adoption. In order to adopt the dogs, one can contact Dharma Rescue.
Paws with a Cause was formed this year and volunteers at a number of places and events, including beach cleanups, dog shelters, rabbit shelters, and other things.
“I had the idea [for the club] since last year, but it was already too late to actually start the club,” said Gomez. “So I started it at the beginning of this year, with my friends, because we thought it would be a good idea.”
Paws with a Cause often collaborates with Dharma Rescue, an organization that rescues dogs and cats, providing them with shelter, spaying and neutering, health care, and rehabilitation.
They help out at Dharma Rescue’s events, where dogs are put on display in order to promote their adoption.